The Rancher & Heart of Stone Read online

  “You’re going to get me sued, you red-feathered problem child,” she muttered. She was carrying a small tree branch and a metal garbage can lid as she herded her hens into the large chicken house. Pumpkin lowered his head and charged her, but he bounced off the lid.

  “Get in there, you fowl assassin,” she said, evading and turning on him.

  He ran into the henhouse. She closed the door behind him and latched it, leaned back against it with a sigh.

  “Need to get rid of that rooster, Miss Maddie,” Ben murmured as he walked by. “Be delicious with some dumplings.”

  “I’m not eating Pumpkin!”

  He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’ll eat him for you.”

  “I’m not feeding him to you, either, Ben.”

  He made a face and kept walking.

  She went inside to wash her hands and put antibiotic cream on the places where her knuckles were scraped from using the garbage can lid. She looked at her hands under the running water. They weren’t elegant hands. They had short nails and they were functional, not pretty. She remembered Odalie Everett’s long, beautiful white fingers on the keyboard at church, because Odalie could play as well as she sang. The woman was gorgeous, except for her snobbish attitude. No wonder Cort was in love with her.

  Maddie looked in the mirror on the medicine cabinet above the sink and winced. She really was plain, she thought. Of course, she never used makeup or perfume, because she worked from dawn to dusk on the ranch. Not that makeup would make her beautiful, or give her bigger breasts or anything like that. She was basically just pleasant to look at, and Cort wanted beauty, brains and talent.

  “I guess you’ll end up an old spinster with a rooster who terrorizes the countryside.”

  The thought made her laugh. She thought of photographing Pumpkin and making a giant Wanted poster, with the legend, Wanted: Dead or Alive. She could hardly contain herself at the image that presented itself if she offered some outlandish reward. Men would wander the land with shotguns, looking for a small red rooster.

  “Now you’re getting silly,” she told her image, and went back to work.

  * * *

  CORT BRANNT SLAMMED out of his pickup truck and into the ranch house, flushed with anger and self-contempt.

  His mother, beautiful Shelby Brannt, glanced up as he passed the living room.

  “Wow,” she murmured. “Cloudy and looking like rain.”

  He paused and glanced at her. He grimaced, retraced his steps, tossed his hat onto the sofa and sat down beside her. “Yeah.”

  “That rooster again, huh?” she teased.

  His dark eyes widened. “How did you guess?”

  She tried to suppress laughter and lost. “Your father came in here bent over double, laughing his head off. He said half the cowboys were ready to load rifles and go rooster-hunting about the time you drove off. He wondered if we might need to find legal representation for you...?”

  “I didn’t shoot her,” he said. He shrugged his powerful shoulders and let out a long sigh, his hands dangling between his splayed legs as he stared at the carpet. “But I said some really terrible things to her.”

  Shelby put down the European fashion magazine she’d been reading. In her younger days, she had been a world-class model before she married King Brannt. “Want to talk about it, Matt?” she asked gently.

  “Cort,” he corrected with a grin.

  She sighed. “Cort. Listen, your dad and I were calling you Matt until you were teenager, so it’s hard...”

  “Yes, well, you were calling Morie ‘Dana,’ too, weren’t you?”

  Shelby laughed. “It was an inside-joke. I’ll tell it to you one day.” She smiled. “Come on. Talk to me.”

  His mother could always take the weight off his shoulders. He’d never been able to speak so comfortably about personal things to his father, although he loved the older man dearly. He and his mother were on the same wavelength. She could almost read his mind.

  “I was pretty mad,” he confessed. “And she was cracking jokes about that stupid rooster. Then she made a crack about Odalie and I just, well, I just lost it.”

  Odalie, she knew, was a sore spot with her son. “I’m sorry about the way things worked out, Cort,” she said gently. “But there’s always hope. Never lose sight of that.”

  “I sent her roses. Serenaded her. Called her just to talk. Listened to her problems.” He looked up. “None of that mattered. That Italian voice trainer gave her an invitation and she got on the next plane to Rome.”

  “She wants to sing. You know that. You’ve always known it. Her mother has the voice of an angel, too.”

  “Yes, but Heather never wanted fame. She wanted Cole Everett,” he pointed out with a faint smile.

  “That was one hard case of a man,” Shelby pointed out. “Like your father.” She shook her head. “We had a very, very rocky road to the altar. And so did Heather and Cole.”

  She continued pensively. “You and Odalie’s brother, John Everett, were good friends for a while. What happened there?”

  “His sister happened,” Cort replied. “She got tired of having me at their place all the time playing video games with John and was very vocal about it, so he stopped inviting me over. I invited him here, but he got into rodeo and then I never saw him much. We’re still friends, in spite of everything.”

  “He’s a good fellow.”

  “Yeah.”

  Shelby got up, ruffled his hair and grinned. “You’re a good fellow, too.”

  He laughed softly. “Thanks.”

  “Try not to dwell so much on things,” she advised. “Sit back and just let life happen for a while. You’re so intense, Cort. Like your dad,” she said affectionately, her dark eyes soft on his face. “One day Odalie may discover that you’re the sun in her sky and come home. But you have to let her try her wings. She’s traveled, but only with her parents. This is her first real taste of freedom. Let her enjoy it.”

  “Even if she messes up her life with that Italian guy?”

  “Even then. It’s her life,” she reminded him gently. “You don’t like people telling you what to do, even if it’s for your own good, right?”

  He glowered at her. “If you’re going to mention that time you told me not to climb up the barn roof and I didn’t listen...”

  “Your first broken arm,” she recalled, and pursed her lips. “And I didn’t even say I told you so,” she reminded him.

  “No. You didn’t.” He stared at his linked fingers. “Maddie Lane sets me off. But I should never have said she was ugly and no man would want her.”

  “You said that?” she exclaimed, wincing. “Cort...!”

  “I know.” He sighed. “Not my finest moment. She’s not a bad person. It’s just she gets these goofy notions about animals. That rooster is going to hurt somebody bad one day, maybe put an eye out, and she thinks it’s funny.”

  “She doesn’t realize he’s dangerous,” she replied.

  “She doesn’t want to realize it. She’s in over her head with these expansion projects. Cage-free eggs. She hasn’t got the capital to go into that sort of operation, and she’s probably already breaking half a dozen laws by selling them to restaurants.”

  “She’s hurting for money,” Shelby reminded somberly. “Most ranchers are, even us. The drought is killing us. But Maddie only has a few head of cattle and she can’t buy feed for them if her corn crop dies. She’ll have to sell at a loss. Her breeding program is already losing money.” She shook her head. “Her father was a fine rancher. He taught your father things about breeding bulls. But Maddie just doesn’t have the experience. She jumped in at the deep end when her father died, but it was by necessity, not choice. I’m sure she’d much rather be drawing pictures than trying to produce calves.”

  “Drawing.” He said it with contempt.

  She stared at him. “Cort, haven’t you ever noticed that?” She indicated a beautiful rendering in pastels of a fairy in a patch of daisies in an exquisite fra
me on the wall.

  He glanced at it. “Not bad. Didn’t you get that at an art show last year?”

  “I got it from Maddie last year. She drew it.”

  He frowned. He actually got up and went to look at the piece. “She drew that?” he asked.

  “Yes. She was selling two pastel drawings at the art show. This was one of them. She sculpts, too—beautiful little fairies—but she doesn’t like to show those to people. I told her she should draw professionally, perhaps in graphic design or even illustration. She laughed. She doesn’t think she’s good enough.” She sighed. “Maddie is insecure. She has one of the poorest self-images of anyone I know.”

  Cort knew that. His lips made a thin line. He felt even worse after what he’d said to her. “I should probably call and apologize,” he murmured.

  “That’s not a bad idea, son,” she agreed.

  “And then I should drive over there, hide in the grass and shoot that damned red-feathered son of a...!”

  “Cort!”

  He let out a harsh breath. “Okay. I’ll call her.”

  “Roosters don’t live that long,” she called after him. “He’ll die of old age before too much longer.”

  “With my luck, he’ll hit fifteen and keep going. Animals that nasty never die!” he called back.

  * * *

  HE WANTED TO apologize to Maddie. But when he turned on his cell phone, he realized that he didn’t even know her phone number. He tried to look it up on the internet, but couldn’t find a listing.

  He went back downstairs. His mother was in the kitchen.

  “Do you know the Lanes’ phone number?” he asked.

  She blinked. “Well, no. I don’t think I’ve ever tried to call them, not since Pierce Lane died last year, anyway.”

  “No number listed, anywhere,” he said.

  “You might drive by there later in the week,” she suggested gently. “It’s not that far.”

  He hesitated. “She’d lock the doors and hide inside when I drove up,” he predicted.

  His mother didn’t know what to say. He was probably right.

  “I need to get away,” he said after a minute. “I’m wired like a piano. I need to get away from the rooster and Odalie and...everything.”

  “Why don’t you go to Wyoming and visit your sister?” she suggested.

  He sighed. “She’s not expecting me until Thursday.”

  She laughed. “She won’t care. Go early. It would do both of you good.”

  “It might at that.”

  “It won’t take you long to fly up there,” she added. “You can use the corporate jet. I’m sure your father wouldn’t mind. He misses Morie. So do I.”

  “Yeah, I miss her, too,” he said. He hugged his mother. “I’ll go pack a bag. If that rooster shows up looking for me, put him on a plane to France, would you? I hear they love chicken over there. Get him a business-class ticket. If someone can ship a lobster from Maine,” he added with a laugh, referring to a joke that had gone the rounds years before, “I can ship a chicken to France.”

  “I’ll take it under advisement,” she promised.

  * * *

  HIS MOTHER WAS right, Cort thought that evening. He loved being with his sister. He and Morie were a lot alike, from their hot tempers to their very Puritan attitudes. They’d always been friends. When she was just five, she’d followed her big brother around everywhere, to the amusement of his friends. Cort was tolerant and he adored her. He never minded the kidding.

  “I’m sorry about your rooster problems,” Morie told him with a gentle laugh. “Believe me, we can understand. My poor sister-in-law has fits with ours.”

  “I like Bodie,” he said, smiling. “Cane sure seems different these days.”

  “He is. He’s back in therapy, he’s stopped smashing bars and he seems to have settled down for good.

  Bodie’s wonderful for him. She and Cane have had some problems, but they’re mostly solved now,” she said. She smiled secretly. “Actually, Bodie and I are going to have a lot more in common for the next few months.”

  Cort was quick. He glanced at her in the semidarkness of the front porch, with fireflies darting around. “A baby?”

  She laughed with pure delight. “A baby,” she said, and her voice was like velvet. “I only found out a little while ago. Bodie found out the day you showed up.” She sighed. “So much happiness. It’s almost too much to bear. Mal’s over the moon.”

  “Is it a boy or a girl? Do you know yet?”

  She shook her head. “Too early to tell. But we’re not going to ask. We want it to be a surprise, however old-fashioned that might be.”

  He chuckled. “I’m going to be an uncle. Wow. That’s super. Have you told Mom and Dad?”

  “Not yet. I’ll call Mom tonight, though.”

  “She’ll be so excited. Her first grandchild.”

  Morie glanced at him. “You ever going to get married?” she asked.

  “Sure, if Odalie ever says yes.” He sighed. “She was warming up to me there just for a while. Then that Italian fellow came along and offered her voice training. He’s something of a legend among opera stars. And that’s what she wants, to sing at the Met.” He grimaced. “Just my luck, to fall in love with a woman who only wants a career.”

  “I believe her mother was the same way, wasn’t she?” Morie asked gently. “And then she and Cole Everett got really close. She gave up being a professional singer to come home and have kids. Although she still composes. That Wyoming group, Desperado, had a major hit from a song she wrote for them some years ago.”

  “I think she still composes. But she likes living on a ranch. Odalie hates it. She says she’s never going to marry a man who smells like cow droppings.” He looked at one of his big boots, where his ankle was resting on his other knee in the rocking chair. “I’m a rancher, damn it,” he muttered. “I can’t learn another trade. Dad’s counting on me to take over when he can’t do the work anymore.”

  “Yes, I know,” she said sadly. “What else could you do?”

  “Teach, I guess,” he replied. “I have a degree in animal husbandry.” He made a face. “I’d rather be shot. I’d rather let that red-feathered assassin loose on my nose. I hate the whole idea of routine.”

  “Me, too,” Morie confessed. “I love ranching. I guess the drought is giving Dad problems, too, huh?”

  “It’s been pretty bad,” Cort agreed. “People in Oklahoma and the other plains states are having it worse, though. No rain. It’s like the Dust Bowl in the thirties, people are saying. So many disaster declarations.”

  “How are you getting around it?”

  “Wells, mostly,” he said. “We’ve drilled new ones and filled the tanks to the top. Irrigating our grain crops. Of course, we’ll still have to buy some feed through the winter. But we’re in better shape than a lot of other cattle producers. Damn, I hate how it’s going to impact small ranchers and farmers. Those huge combines will be standing in the shadows, just waiting to pounce when the foreclosures come.”

  “Family ranches are going to be obsolete one day, like family farms,” Morie said sadly. “Except, maybe, for the big ones, like ours.”

  “True words. People don’t realize how critical this really is.”

  She reached over and squeezed his hand. “That’s why we have the National Cattleman’s Association and the state organizations,” she reminded him. “Now stop worrying. We’re going fishing tomorrow!”

  “Really?” he asked, delighted. “Trout?”

  “Yes. The water’s just cold enough, still. When it heats up too much, you can’t eat them.” She sighed. “This may be the last chance we’ll get for a while, if this heat doesn’t relent.”

  “Tell me about it. We hardly had winter at all in Texas. Spring was like summer, and it’s gone downhill since. I’d love to stand in a trout stream, even if I don’t catch a thing.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Does Bodie fish?”

  “You know, I
’ve never asked. We’ll do that tomorrow. For now,” she said, rising, “I’m for bed.” She paused and hugged him. “It’s nice to have you here for a while.”

  “For me, too, little sis.” He hugged her back, and kissed her forehead. “See you in the morning.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  MADDIE HADN’T THOUGHT about Cort for one whole hour. She laughed at herself while she fed her hens. Pumpkin was in the henhouse, locked in for the time being, so that she could feed the chickens without having to defend herself.

  The laughter died away as she recalled the things Cort had said to her. She was ugly and flat-chested and he could never be attracted to her. She looked down at her slender body and frowned. She couldn’t suddenly become beautiful. She didn’t have the money to buy fancy clothes that flattered her, like Odalie did. In fact, her wardrobe was two years old.

  When her father had been dying of cancer, every penny they had was tied up trying to keep up with doctor bills that the insurance didn’t cover. Her father did carry life insurance, which was a lucky break because at his death, it was enough to pay back everybody.

  But things were still hard. This year, they’d struggled to pay just the utility bills. It was going to come down to a hard choice, sell off cattle or sell off land. There was a developer who’d already been to see Maddie about selling the ranch. He wanted to build a huge hotel and amusement park complex. He was offering her over a million dollars, and he was persistent.

  “You just run a few head of cattle here, don’t you?” the tall man in the expensive suit said, but his smile didn’t really reach his eyes. He was an opportunist, looking for a great deal. He thought Maddie would be a pushover once he pulled out a figure that would tempt a saint.

  But Maddie’s whole heritage was in that land. Her great-grandfather had started the ranch and suffered all sorts of deprivations to get it going. Her grandfather had taken over where he left off, improving both the cattle herd and the land. Her father had toiled for years to find just the right mix of grasses to pursue a purebred cattle breeding herd that was now the envy of several neighbors. All that would be gone. The cattle sold off, the productive grasslands torn up and paved for the complex, which would attract people passing by on the long, monotonous interstate highway that ran close to the border of the ranch.